14 killed in Darfur air raids
2008-05-05 21:37
Khartoum - Sudanese government air strikes killed at least 14 civilians in three days of bombardment in North Darfur, including a raid on a busy market, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement said on Monday.
"There has been continuous bombardment by Antonov aircraft for three days," London-based JEM spokesperson Ahmed Hussein Adam told AFP by telephone.
"Yesterday (Sunday) morning they bombarded a village in the area of Al-Ain and killed three children of the local leader Sheikh Mahmud Bakr and injured one. They also destroyed wells and other water resources," he said.
"Yesterday afternoon they killed 11 civilians and injured three women and two children when they bombed the market in Shugag Karo, near Deir Maza, on market day. There were a lot of people concentrated in one place."
Adam said the attacks deliberately targeted civilians as "there was not any single armed element from the (rebel) movements in the area".
"It is very clear the government of Sudan doesn't want to go for any political solution, they just want to impose a military solution," Adam charged.
More than two million people have fled their homes in the western Sudanese region since the Khartoum government enlisted militia allies to put down a revolt in the region in 2003.
The UN said last month that the death toll in Darfur from five years of war, famine and disease had reached 300 000. Khartoum says the toll is much lower.